Joggers should be banned from paths and pavements

[BalancedIndividual]

As a car driver I find that the occasional cyclist breaks highway codes, cycles dangerously, or cycles without care and consideration. Key word being occasional, so no biggie. Just like how the occasional car diver is a .

But as a pedestrian going for a stroll in the park, the number of rude, selfish, careless and aggressive joggers i've seen is ridiculous high.

I see a jogger coming towards me, I walk to the side/edge of the path, but joggers always decide to keep running straight down the middle....

Similar to the above, joggers not keep a safe distance, and actually brushing past me.

And lastly, the worst offenders, joggers running side by side taking up the whole path, coming towards me, and giving me looks as if im supposed to jump out the way and off the path. ***

I honestly think legislation should be brought in to ban jogging on paths and pavements. Restricting joggers to grassland/cross country, outdoor tracks, private land, and the gym. The same way that cycling isnt permitted on pavements.

AIBU?

Seriously?

For many people an efficient running route starting and end at home involves running on paths and pavements. Going to a gym costs money and you will usually be discouraged from hogging running machines. For the millions of people who live in built up areas there is no grassland/cross country option.

But you know all that, and are in fact simply being a twat, and you know it.

Anyone else confused that a man with a bit of a fat gut is considered in shape?

But I would always jog off the path when I saw people on it or coming towards me. But people these days dont seem to have the same ethos at all.

That's because both the jogger and the walker have equal right to the path! I will always try to move to the side but will expect the pedestrian to do the same to ensure we both have room to pass.

Your choice of leisure doesnt trump everyone else's. Running outdoors is one of the only truly free forms of exercise there is.

You want legislation to stop other pedestrians moving faster than you?
Hilarious

@lazylinguist

I guess the test would be, is the person going for a recreational/exercise jog (opposed to unexpected event / in a rush). Can be judged by looking at what the person is wearing, questioned where they are going and why the need to jog there. E.g 1. Guy in a shirt and trouser running for a bus = probably okay E.g 2. Person in running shorts, sports bra, water bottle in hand, sunglasses and wearing a sweatband, running laps on the path in a park = probably not okay.

Except, of course, that the only relevant thing is whether they are using the space considerately. The purpose of their running is irrelevant.

Banning people running for particular purposes or based on what clothes they are wearing is even more of an idiotic idea thqn banning runners from pavement at all.

Tbh, youre right.

Perhaps there should be a law which criminalises inconsiderate running and can be dealt with by a FPN issued by PCSO'S, PC's and park wardens.

@SimonJT

Anyone else confused that a man with a bit of a fat gut is considered in shape?

Have you seen OP's photo of the "in shape Stella drinker"? Looks alright to me ...

@NoIDontWatchLoveIsland

But I would always jog off the path when I saw people on it or coming towards me. But people these days dont seem to have the same ethos at all.

That's because both the jogger and the walker have equal right to the path! I will always try to move to the side but will expect the pedestrian to do the same to ensure we both have room to pass.

Your choice of leisure doesnt trump everyone else's. Running outdoors is one of the only truly free forms of exercise there is.

This is where we fundamentally disagree.

Because I was exercising, for me jogging off the path wasnt an issue. E.g. it was still exercise. So I did the considerate thing, and wasn't being a pain to everyone else.

But when im going for a walk I dont want to have to be dodging people running at full speed down a narrow path.

(This is like that thread on MN, where a lot of people think its perfectly fine for children to walk along other peoples garden walls, but others such as myself disagree, and consider it bad etiquette; and something they were taught not to do)

I always run on the grass or in the road past people.
Literally never had any trouble, if I am walking and I see a runner they always run in the road or on the grass, and there are lots of people that run where I live.
Strange you have so many mean runners.

Perhaps dog walkers and leisure walkers should be banned from paths and pavements and let us runners run in peace.

The amount of times I'm running along and come across a group or two of people who make no effort to go single file so I end up having to run in the road.

It works both ways we all need to be more considerate. I sometimes run with other peole and always go single file if approaching someone.

And do not get me going on extended dog leads! Or worst still dogs not on a lead who want to chase me.
If I'm running along and you don't move to one side of course I can't help if 'I brush past you'

It's also quite difficult when running to quickly move to one side.

@VettiyaIruken

Gyms can be expensive, tracks are few and far between and cross country carries its own hazards - safety, terrain etc.

What's needed is for people to be more considerate of others. Walkers, joggers, horse riders, cyclists, car drivers... All of us. Just be mindful of other users of the same space.

This. Was always annoying in 'normal times' - people side by side never attempting to walk more closely together, move to single file for a few seconds, or move over to the side of the pavement as you approach so your option seems to be walk in the road yourself or bump into them.

During lockdown the last 12 months its even worse - the behaviour of others is barely any different but obviously means no real way to keep distant from others.

Its not joggers, its just general ignorance

Ok I now think this is a wind up...

'criminalises inconsiderate running' - I mean WTAF?

Can we also 'criminalise idiotic MN posts'?

@Vargas

Ok I now think this is a wind up...

'criminalises inconsiderate running' - I mean WTAF?

Can we also 'criminalise idiotic MN posts'?

I think it's a wind up too.

Matt Hancock on the Coronavirus update on BBC1 right now has just talked about the importance of protecting yourself by exercising and keeping fit and said that he was out running in his local park this morning.

I have doubts that the current government is in favour of a ban. Maybe another regime might be more suited to your aims OP? North Korea perhaps. I'm sure Kim Jong has invented some rule on people exercising in public.

Oh, its definately a wind up! But its a good one.

@Pippa234

I always run on the grass or in the road past people. Literally never had any trouble, if I am walking and I see a runner they always run in the road or on the grass, and there are lots of people that run where I live. Strange you have so many mean runners.

It very well could be you live in a nicer and more considerate place.

(My area used to be almost a village when I was a child, over 30 years ago. Now its a proper jam packed town.)

Have you ever considered grassland or cross country walking to avoid us dastardly Runners?

NAJALT

@Vargas

Ok I now think this is a wind up...

'criminalises inconsiderate running' - I mean WTAF?

Can we also 'criminalise idiotic MN posts'?

Used the wrong word, didnt mean criminalise.

I meant similar to how you can get fined for littering / fixed penalty notice. By park wardens, etc.

@Dalamalama

Have you ever considered grassland or cross country walking to avoid us dastardly Runners?

Im looking into it actually.

I agree that some runners (usually runners as opposed to joggers) are selfish. And by that I mean they expect, for example, two adults two kids and a buggy to move off the pavement as they go hurtling past rather than them moving off (as presumably they don't want to spoil their time). Especially poor form at this time of pandemic. I run sometimes but always veer off to let people pass, especially families/groups.

It is the responsibility of the person doing the overtaking (whether a jogger or a faster walker on a pavement or a cyclist on a towpath) to overtake safely and considerately. It is unreasonable to expect walkers to be constantly looking over their shoulders in case a cyclist or jogger is coming up behind them.

I am always very happy to move myself and my toddler out of the way of faster pavement-users, but since I don't have eyes in the back of my head, I don't always see who is coming up behind me. And what really bugs me is cyclists on the river path who come up super-fast behind us, ring their bells and expect that to be sufficient for my small child to jump out of their way and then swear when he doesn't move instantly. I will move my child as quickly as I can, but in the meantime please try not to mow him down just because slowing down and passing us at a safe speed would interrupt your bike ride.

And we do walk two abreast on the pavement because I'm holding his hand to make sure he doesn't run into the road.

I agree that they should be banned (perhaps at certain times) in areas that get very busy (e.g. London canals) - too much puffing in people's faces. As long as Covid remains an issue.

Of course you're being unreasonable OP, and frankly an idiot.

There actually is a running track a drive away from me. I run up to 13 miles at a time, do you suggest I go round and round it 53 times, assuming I could find a full 2 hour period that it wasn't being used by others?

Lucky you that you can a) afford a gym and b) they're open near you.

Perhaps if you took your walking cross-country (far safer to walk over uneven ground than to run after all) then the runners in your park wouldn't be a problem.

Also you're being doubly unreasonable to use the term 'joggers'. If they're moving faster than walking speed, they're running. Runners.

@LucieStar Thats who I’m referring to, not a fan of chubby tums.

Are you, by chance, on my town's Facebook group? It is full of this type of nonsense.

I appreciate that this is an anecdote rather than data, but my personal experience of jogging (very slowly along a long path) towards a completely oblivious phone browsing walker right in the middle of a path was that quite the reverse is true. At least runners tend to look where they are going.

I guess the continual jumping off paths into muddy ground to avoid the thousands of walkers who are now on my running route adds a certain plyometric element #smallbenefits.